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From: Alan Badmington
Date: 07 Oct 2008
Time: 12:04:12 -0500
Remote Name: 195.194.75.225
Hi Walt, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your paper. In many ways, your journey appears to have been similar to mine, although I never viewed my stutter as a gift. :-) In common with you, I now enjoy the immense pleasure of speaking, particularly in front of an audience. Like myou, I also have fond and indelible memories of the exciting challenges that I encountered while dealing with my stuttering issues. It was so exhilarating. During recent years, I have often wished that I had followed your example by venturing into the field of speech-language pathology. Alas, I am now far too long in the tooth (and lead such a hectic social existence) to give that matter meaningful consideration. :-) I genuinely believe that the many heartaches and disappointments to which I was subjected throughout my life have made me a more empathetic and caring human being. As a matter of interest, do you feel that your stutter equipped you with similar qualities? If so, did they influence your decision to seek a career in speech-language pathology? Another point - we both appear to have travelled a considerable distance down the road to self-actualization, passing significant milestones, and overcoming countless obstacles along the way. I am now enjoying life to the full, uncovering my latent talents, doing whatever I choose, realising my true potential and fulfilling roles that I previously felt lay outside my scope. Although I believe I am very close to my destination, I feel that the real pleasure has been sampling the experiences of that eventful journey. Do you have similar feelings? And, finally - I'm so glad that I didn't have to recite "Black frock coat". The Vietnam conflict would have ended a long time before I had finished. :-) Kindest regards Alan